Walgreens plans to close 200 U.S. stores, according to new SEC filing

Walgreens plans to close approximately 200 U.S. stores, the company announced Tuesday in an SEC filing.

According to the document posted Tuesday on the Securities and Exchange Commission website, the move to close stores follows “a review of the real estate footprint in the United States.”

The closing stores represent less than 3% of Walgreens nearly 9,600 U.S. stores, Phil Caruso, a Walgreens spokesman, said in a statement to USA TODAY.

"As previously announced, we are undertaking a transformational cost management program to accelerate the ongoing transformation of our business, enable investments in key areas and to become a more efficient enterprise," Caruso said. "As part of this effort, we plan to close approximately 200 stores in the U.S."